The Itinerant Poetry Library

Since May 2006, The Itinerant Poetry Librarian has been travelling the world with a library of ‘Lost & Forgotten’ poetry, installing the library & librarian and archiving the sounds, poems and poetry of the cities, peoples and countries she meets. Welcome to the project's blog . . . Our Itinerant Poetry Librarian lives wherever her library is - come join the cause!

FAQs: • Yes we carry our entire life and the library with us as we go • Yes, it is quite heavy • No, we're not mad. As Charles Simic said, 'But what if poets are not crazy?' That's the spirit boyo!

We exist to: remind people of the importance of free public libraries...subvert mainstream channels of distribution...remind people that access to knowledge should be free and not dependent upon economic wealth hierarchies... show people that poetry/art can provide answers to questions we ask of life...experiment in existing outside of 'the market' – thereby, instead, investing in social capital, social innovation and community.

We aim to make life taste better. Word.

Where have we been . . . ?

(2006) Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, London, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Norwich, York, Antwerp, (2007-2008) San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Leipzig, (2009) Ulm, Chemnitz, Rotterdam, Huntingdon, Callander, (2010) Cork, St. Andrews . . . Where'd you like us to go? Can you help? Get in touch!

What We Are Up To Right Now . . .

Archive

Tuesday 10 October 2006

Where we be . . .

Right. So. We are back in tha Nar-wich. It is slightly weird. Not least cycling around on Charlotte Morris’s bicycle which is stuck in third gear, only to find one’s own bicycle a few hours later conveniently chained up outside Norwich Arts Centre and ready to go go go. Luckily, this one librarian had her ELSHO device on her (see prevous post and diagram) which obviously has such useful things as bicycle lock keys on it. So we gonnagottabikeback innit! Hurray! Another bike with no brakes, dodgy gears and a very sticky right handlebar. At least it does actually belong to us though. Our librarian has also been heavy on the hardwork stakes, we promise, and Norwich has already thrown up and out twelve new members who signed up to the poetry library. We did our first stint at the preview for the Norwich Fringe Festival on Friday, and it was also our first exciting use of a stolen shopping trolley in order to be fully itinerant and roam around the Bally Shoe Factory with said library in tow to sign up members. We did have to stick a quid in the trolley to er, ‘borrow’ it from Homebase, which was our dinner money for that night, but hey, that’s the commeuppance of an Itinerant Librarian wethinks. Luckily, the people of Norwich have been fully forthcoming in the ‘Feed and House the Poet’ stakes so we are being well looked after. Apart from the events listed below, where we are setting up the library, broadcasting our radio show and facilitating some workshops you can ALSO catch the Librarian at . . . Norwich Arts Centre on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th October, from 12 noon until 4pm, on Thursday in the cafe/bar and on Friday in the foyer. Come along and join! Help Norwich beat Budapest in the library membership stakes! Or just come and laugh at our librarian! Whatever you like . . . we think we’ll enjoy it too!

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